1. Transformed by Trouble
Pages 193-200
Sunday 31 October 2010

2. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that
far outweighs them all.
2 Cor 4:17
“It is the fire of suffering that brings forth
the gold of godliness”
Madame Guyon
Sunday 31 October 2010

3. God has a purpose
behind every
problem
Sunday 31 October 2010

4. God uses circumstances to develop our character.
He depends more on circumstances than on our
Bible reading - because you face circumstances 24
hours a day.
John 16:33 - Jesus’ words
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may
have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the world."
Sunday 31 October 2010

5. No one is immune to pain, insulated from suffering,
no one gets a problem free life. Not all problems
are big, but all are significant in God’s growth
process for you.
1 Peter 4:12
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial
you are suffering, as though something strange
were happening to you.
Psalm 34:18 - God uses them to draw you to him
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves
those who are crushed in spirit.
Sunday 31 October 2010

6. Warren suggests that in darkest days we
experience our deepest, most profound and
intimate times of worship. During suffering we learn
to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest-to-
God prayers - when we are in pain we don’t have
the energy for superficial prayers.
Sunday 31 October 2010

7. “When life is rosy, we may slide
by knowing about Jesus, with
imitating him and quoting him
and speaking of him. But only in
suffering will we know Jesus”
Joni Eareckson Tada
Sunday 31 October 2010

8. Joseph - in jail, Daniel - in the
lions den, Jeremiah - in the well,
Paul - 3 shipwrecks
God could have stopped them all
- but he didn’t
All of them happened so the
people might draw closer to him
2 Cor 1:9 Indeed, in our hearts
we felt the sentence of death.
But this happened that we might
not rely on ourselves but on God,
who raises the dead.
Sunday 31 October 2010

9. None of your problems happen without God’s
permission - he intends it for good.
Every day of your life was written on God’s
calendar before you were born - ps 139:16 -
everything that happens to you has a spiritual
significance
Sunday 31 October 2010

10. Rom 8:28-29
28And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love
him, who have been called according to
his purpose.29For those God foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to
the likeness of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brothers.
Sunday 31 October 2010

11. Understanding Romans 8:28-29
It does not say,
God causes everything to work out the way I
want it to,
God causes everything to have a happy
ending here on earth.
Only in heaven will we see everything perfect the
way God intended it to be - hence we pray,
“your will be done”
Sunday 31 October 2010

12. We know - not positive
thinking but a knowledge that
God is in control
That God causes - life is not
a random series of events -
God is behind it all planning
and purposing - God does
not make mistakes, even if we
do
Everything - all that happens,
mistakes, sins, hurts, illness,
debt, disasters etc.
Sunday 31 October 2010

13. To work together -
interwoven, not
separately - all parts of
your life are
interdependent - the
ingredients in a cake
might taste terrible on
their own but mixed and
cooked they are
delicious
Sunday 31 October 2010

14. Sunday 31 October 2010

15. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Sunday 31 October 2010

16. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Tamar seduced her father in law to get pregnant
Sunday 31 October 2010

17. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Tamar seduced her father in law to get pregnant
Rahab was a prostitute
Sunday 31 October 2010

18. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Tamar seduced her father in law to get pregnant
Rahab was a prostitute
Ruth was not even Jeiwsh and broke the law by
marrying a Jewish man
Sunday 31 October 2010

19. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Tamar seduced her father in law to get pregnant
Rahab was a prostitute
Ruth was not even Jeiwsh and broke the law by
marrying a Jewish man
Bathsheba committed adultery
Sunday 31 October 2010

20. For the good - not that everything in life is good,
but God brings good out of it - 4 women in the
genealogy of Christ:
Tamar seduced her father in law to get pregnant
Rahab was a prostitute
Ruth was not even Jeiwsh and broke the law by
marrying a Jewish man
Bathsheba committed adultery
God brings good out of bad things - his purpose is
greater than our pain, problems or sin
Sunday 31 October 2010

21. Sunday 31 October 2010

22. Of those who love God and
are called - only for the
children of God - if you are not
part of God’s fmaily it will work
for bad
Sunday 31 October 2010

23. Of those who love God and
are called - only for the
children of God - if you are not
part of God’s fmaily it will work
for bad
According to his purpose -
which is?
Sunday 31 October 2010

24. Of those who love God and
are called - only for the
children of God - if you are not
part of God’s fmaily it will work
for bad
According to his purpose -
which is?
Become like his Son - the
supreme purpose of God in
your life
Sunday 31 October 2010

25. Of those who love God and
are called - only for the
children of God - if you are not
part of God’s fmaily it will work
for bad
According to his purpose -
which is?
Become like his Son - the
supreme purpose of God in
your life
Sunday 31 October 2010

26. Building Christlike Character
God will use whatever tool is
appropriate to shape your life -
every problem is a chance for
him to work on your character
Not only so, but we also
rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that
suffering produces
perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character,
hope.
Sunday 31 October 2010

27. These have come so that your
faith—of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even
though refined by fire—may be
proved genuine and may result
in praise, glory and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed.
How does a silversmith know
when silver is pure? When he
can see his face reflected in it.
You know that under pressure,
your faith-life is forced into the
open and shows its true
colors.
Sunday 31 October 2010

28. “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver…”
Malachi 3:3
This verse puzzled a group in a Bible study and
they wondered what this statement meant about
the character and nature of God. One of them
offered to find out the process of refining silver and
get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and
made an appointment to watch him at work. She
didn’t mention anything about the reason for her
interest beyond her curiosity about the process of
refining Silver.
Sunday 31 October 2010

29. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of
silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained
that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver
in the middle of the fire where the flames were
hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such
a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse
that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had
to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the
silver was being refined.
Sunday 31 October 2010

30. The man answered that Yes, he not only had to sit
there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes
on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the
silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it
would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she
asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the
silver is fully refined?’
He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy —
when I see my image in it.’
Author Unknown
Sunday 31 October 2010

31. As God intends you to look like
Jesus it should be expected he
will take you through some of
the same experiences -
loneliness, temptation, criticism,
rejection etc.
Although he was a son, he
learned obedience from what
he suffered and, once made
perfect, he became the source
of eternal salvation for all who
obey him
Hebrew 5:8-9
Sunday 31 October 2010

32. And we know we are going to get what's
coming to us—an unbelievable
inheritance! We go through exactly what
Christ goes through. If we go through the
hard times with him, then we're certainly
going to go through the good times with
him!
Romans 8:16-17 TM
Sunday 31 October 2010

33. Responding to problems as
Jesus would
How you respond to a
problem matters - a
problem doesn’t
automatically produce
what God intends.
Some people grow bitter
not better.
You have to respond as
Jesus would
Sunday 31 October 2010

34. Remember God’s plan is good
Jer 29:13
Gen 50:20
Hezekiah reflecting on his
illness, Isa 38:17 Surely it
was for my benefit that I
suffered such anguish. In
your love you kept me from
the pit of destruction; you
have put all my sins behind
your back.
Sunday 31 October 2010

35. Heb 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little
while as they thought best; but God disciplines us
for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
Keep focussed on God’s plan not the pain or
problem - endurance needs us to know that the
pain or problem is only temporary and our reward
eternal
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving
for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Cor 4:17
Sunday 31 October 2010

36. “If you look at the world, you’ll be
distressed. If you look within, you’ll be
depressed. But if you look at Christ,
you’ll be at rest.”
Corrie ten Boom
Sunday 31 October 2010

37. Rejoice and give thanks
1 Thess. 5:18 give thanks in
all circumstances, for this is
God's will for you in Christ
Jesus.
Php. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again:
Rejoice!
Remember God is intimately
involved with us - rejoice he is
with us in the pain
Sunday 31 October 2010

38. Refuse to give up
Jas 1:2-4 Consider it a
sheer gift, friends, when tests
and challenges come at you
from all sides. You know that
under pressure, your faith-life
is forced into the open and
shows its true colors. So
don't try to get out of
anything prematurely. Let it
do its work so you become
mature and well-developed,
not deficient in any way.
Sunday 31 October 2010

39. Character building is a slow
process - but if you try to avoid
difficulties we delay our growth and
end up in a form of denial.
Don’t pray , “God comfort me”
Do pray, “God conform me”
Don’t give up - grow up.
Heb 10:36 You need to persevere
so that when you have done the
will of God, you will receive what he
has promised.
Sunday 31 October 2010

40. Point to Ponder
There is a purpose behind every problem
Sunday 31 October 2010

41. Verse to remember
Rom 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.
Sunday 31 October 2010

42. Question to consider
What problem in my life has caused the greatest
growth in me?
Sunday 31 October 2010